2011 World Motorsports Discussion

Hey... were it not for Bubba Burgers, I'd likely have starved, my first three months in Savannah. Cheap, fast, and easy to tinker with. Perfect!

Good news from the World Rally front; Volkswagen has confirmed they are preparing an entry for 2013.

2-time World Champion Carlos Sainz will assist with development.

Professor Voodoo wrote:Good news from the World Rally front; Volkswagen has confirmed they are preparing an entry for 2013.

2-time World Champion Carlos Sainz will assist with development.

Is that the Rabbit or the Golf?

ElfenMagix wrote:

Professor Voodoo wrote:Good news from the World Rally front; Volkswagen has confirmed they are preparing an entry for 2013.

2-time World Champion Carlos Sainz will assist with development.

Is that the Rabbit or the Golf?

its the Polo,its a slightly smaller car than the Golf,i own one

Awinnell wrote:its the Polo,its a slightly smaller car than the Golf,i own one

Jezza: "One of those horrible, eco, Volkswagen Blumotion things?"

Kiskaloo wrote:

Awinnell wrote:its the Polo,its a slightly smaller car than the Golf,i own one

Jezza: "One of those horrible, eco, Volkswagen Blumotion things?"

that one or mine ? mines the 4 cylinder TSI,which is the most powerful one apart from the GTI version,which i didn't get because its £8000 more for an extra 35hp ! and the fittings are a lot more basic and i like aircon and a decent sound system !

Awinnell wrote:

Kiskaloo wrote:

Awinnell wrote:its the Polo,its a slightly smaller car than the Golf,i own one

Jezza: "One of those horrible, eco, Volkswagen Blumotion things?"

that one or mine ? mines the 4 cylinder TSI,which is the most powerful one apart from the GTI version,which i didn't get because its £8000 more for an extra 35hp ! and the fittings are a lot more basic and i like aircon and a decent sound system !

James: "No, the wretched little three-cylinder model."

ElfenMagix wrote:
Its May. Its the Indy 500. Ladies and Gentlemen! Start Your Engines!

Announced today; the pace car driver will be someone who already knows his way around the Speedway.
http://www.crash.net/indycar/news/168981/1/aj_foyt_to_drive_indy_500_pace_car.html
With luck he probably won't even punch someone in the pit area like the old days.

Solid Turkish GP today and GP2 was the usual mayhem-fest.

I'll put this in "forum format."

Elio's phone rings on his weekend off...
Elio: Hello, this is Alboreto.

Lorenzo: Elio, this is Pieri. You're up in Monza, right?

Elio: Yes, I had this weekend off so Mari & I could attend the World Superbike Championship round.

Lorenzo: Good, good. Listen, I have a quick job for you. Apparently the race stewards made a questionable call during the second race.

Elio: Well, yes...the Roman Max Biaggi aboard an Aprilia had a commanding lead but he missed his braking point and had to straight-line the first chicane. He slowed down in an attempt to "give back" the gained time but the stewards still gave him a ride-through penalty...effectively depriving the crowd of an Italian winner on an Italian bike. Irishman Eugene Laverty eventualy won on a Yamaha.

Lorenzo: I see...well, the crowd wants those stewards heads on a pole. They're being escorted out of the track in unmarked cars with blacked out windows but the local police have asked for cyborg support. Can you and Marisa cover this?

Elio: Sure thing.

Lorenzo: The track officials will be waiting for you ...thanks. (hangs up)

Marisa: Was that the Chief?

Elio: Yes. We need to do a quick bodyguard job before going home. The race stewards need to be escorted out of the track so the crowd doesn't kill them.

Marisa: You mean the assholes that robbed Max Biaggi of the Race 2 win?

Elio: Language Mari...and yes, we'll be protecting them in case of trouble. Is that a problem?

Marisa: (thinking for a moment) No, it isn't. In fact I'd love five minutes alone with them in a car with blacked out windows (laughs, rubs hands together in an evil manner).

Elio: Okay, you are definately not riding in the back seat with them.

So while I wait for the WRC Jordan Rally coverage to queue up on the Tivo, I caught the Global Rallycross Challenge event from Seattle. Looks like something Allison would probably be a big fan of.

Speaking of Rally Jordan, they noted that because of unrest in Syria, they couldn't ship everything direct from Faro, Portugal so they had to drive it to Trieste and send it to Haifa, Israel, but storms in the Med and mechanical troubles on the ship meant it couldn't dock in time for the Event Start, so they scrubbed Day One and the teams had to recon the course in 4x4s or Jeeps. They did show a Citroen C6 executive sedan tooling around the course:



That had to be amusing.

No real surprises this afternoon during qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Spoiler:

And I see Kimi Raikkonen did decent at the Craftsman Truck Race in Charlotte, but I expect that the second half of the race was run under caution helped.

And in other news:

Next weekend is the Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kiskaloo wrote:No real surprises this afternoon during qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.

While it was dramatic in Turkey (the two Red Bulls setting only one lap then retiring to the pits) I can see Q3 sessions becoming boring if they're all going to do it (like this weekend).

I understand the teams' desire to preserve their tire allocation but as a consequence today's session was one of the most boring since the introduction of knockout qualifying.

Professor Voodoo wrote:

Kiskaloo wrote:No real surprises this afternoon during qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.

While it was dramatic in Turkey (the two Red Bulls setting only one lap then retiring to the pits) I can see Q3 sessions becoming boring if they're all going to do it (like this weekend).

I understand the teams' desire to preserve their tire allocation but as a consequence today's session was one of the most boring since the introduction of knockout qualifying.

Yes it was, but with Vettel the best driver and Red Bull the best team, Hamilton, Button and Alonso have no chance for Pole or P2, so it doesn't make any sense for them to burn a set of Option Tires when at best they'll just improve their time while staying in the same starting position. And with Ferrari at times needing the Option just to secure their advance into P2...

On the flip side, this was the best Spanish Grand Prix in two decades in part because of the front-runners preserving their Option Tires in Q3, allowing them to have an extra set of fresh rubber to do some real racing.

Spoiler:

Kiskaloo wrote:
Yes it was, but with Vettel the best driver and Red Bull the best team, Hamilton, Button and Alonso have no chance for Pole or P2, so it doesn't make any sense for them to burn a set of Option Tires when at best they'll just improve their time while staying in the same starting position. And with Ferrari at times needing the Option just to secure their advance into P2...

On the flip side, this was the best Spanish Grand Prix in two decades in part because of the front-runners preserving their Option Tires in Q3, allowing them to have an extra set of fresh rubber to do some real racing.

Oh I'm well aware of the strategic reasons for their restraint...but we've still lost the exciting last lap shoot-outs for pole that knockout qualifying was supposed to bring about. The way it's looking we might as well go back to one-lap qualifying like they did pre-2006.

Perhaps the FIA could allow the teams that make Q3 one additional set of soft options which can not be carried over to the race...that might lure them out of the pits.

Spoiler:

At least she didn't have any reason to assassinate the race stewards...

Well that was an Indy 500 for the record books... Ditto with the Monaco Grand Prix.

.... FFFFFFFFUUUUU! How did I forget to wake up for it? Augh!

F1:
The red flag & restart certainly provided some nail-biting tension but it also provided the teams a chance to change tires...which I believe deprived us of an even more exciting finish.

Good to see Vitaly Petrov & Sergio Perez are both alright.

Indianapolis:
I don't get the ABC channel so I listened to it on IMS Radio Network...the first time I've done so since 1985 (remember when the Indy 500 wasn't broadcast live? You had to listen to it on the radio or wait until the tape-delayed broadcast that night.). That was the year of Danny Sullivan's historic "spin & win" victory...this year provided one of the most unbelievable finishes ever. Maybe I ought to listen to all of them on the radio.

Spoiler:

Rally Argentina is this weekend, as well, but I'll have to wait for highlight coverage in two weeks. They did show highlight coverage of Rally Italy (watched that while I allowed the 500 to queue in the DVR) and that was eventful, as was GP2 from Monaco (watching that, now).

Here's hoping for a full moon over Charlotte tonight at the 600 and then Grand Am at Lime Rock tomorrow. And Australian V8 supercars. That's some 24 straight hours of television.

Even I watched the Indy 500 and I nearly spit grape juice out from my nose when JR hit the wall. I would want to go into a dark corner and never come out if that happened to me.

Kiskaloo wrote:Well that was an Indy 500 for the record books... Ditto with the Monaco Grand Prix.

Amen (well the GP at least)... been in Brisbane since friday, but landed back in Gladstone with just enough time to get myself squared away for the week and catch the first hour or so of Monaco. Unfortunately I then decided that sleep would be the better part of valour otherwise 5am Monday morning was going to suck even more than usual.

Certainly some interesting manuvers made on the part of the drivers... and the pit crews. That said, Monaco's not a circuit I think I'd like to race on, talk about blind.

I didn't watch the Indy 500 much today on ABC, but I did catch the Monaco GP in all its dramatic glory. Unfortunately, Allison's a bit grumpy, though...

Allison: There goes another €10 Euro to Triela. Jenson and Lewis have disappointed me again...

Triela: My next bear will be named Sebastian, and with the money that Allison keeps having to give me, I'll be able to buy him a car, uniform, and pit crew!

It won't be Group C (alas), but next year marks the return of the World Sportscar Championship. The FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (who sanction LeMans) have agreed to a six-race World Endurance Championship for sportscars next year.

The FIA is also combining GT1, GT2 and GT3 into a single GT World Championship, replacing the current FIA GT1 World Championship.

So... Best. Public. Holiday. Placement. Ever.

Next monday is the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

So, anyone else planning to try and marathon Le Mans and the F1? (or at least as much of each as is shown in our respective countries).

Kiskaloo wrote:It won't be Group C (alas), but next year marks the return of the World Sportscar Championship. The FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (who sanction LeMans) have agreed to a six-race World Endurance Championship for sportscars next year.

The FIA is also combining GT1, GT2 and GT3 into a single GT World Championship, replacing the current FIA GT1 World Championship.

It's great news...maybe with a degree of stability that series will manage to gain a toe hold. It's already a great formula...seven manufacturers (Maserati, Nissan, Ford, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Saleen & Chevrolet) and six of them managed at least one win in 2010.

If the ACO is on board with this I wonder what it means for the LMP category. Audi, Peugeot, Aston Martin and a lot of private teams still have a lot invested in that formula.

Alfisti wrote:So... Best. Public. Holiday. Placement. Ever.

Next monday is the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

So, anyone else planning to try and marathon Le Mans and the F1? (or at least as much of each as is shown in our respective countries).

I miss the days when SPEED would run the 24 Hours of Le Mans live non-stop outside of coverage of qualifying and the running of the Grand Prix of Canada, of course.

The Live On-Track NASCAR programming eats into that block now, but looking at the Tivo schedule we're still going to get 17 and a half hours of coverage.

Professor Voodoo wrote:

Kiskaloo wrote:The FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (who sanction LeMans) have agreed to a six-race World Endurance Championship for sportscars next year.

If the ACO is on board with this I wonder what it means for the LMP category. Audi, Peugeot, Aston Martin and a lot of private teams still have a lot invested in that formula.

It sounds like a more formal version of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, which held three events last year and is running seven this year. Then there is the American, European and Asia LeMans Series. So the factories have plenty of races to spread the costs around if they want.

Professor Voodoo wrote:

Kiskaloo wrote:The FIA is also combining GT1, GT2 and GT3 into a single GT World Championship, replacing the current FIA GT1 World Championship.

It's great news...maybe with a degree of stability that series will manage to gain a toe hold. It's already a great formula...seven manufacturers (Maserati, Nissan, Ford, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Saleen & Chevrolet) and six of them managed at least one win in 2010.

SPEED carried GT1 last winter, which was cool because the channel that had it before was a shopping channel so they actually only broadcast one episode - it was always pre-empted by shopping. Like BTCC and DTM, it was all well after the season had been run, but I forget who wins these things so it was all new to me.

Qualifying was fun. Looks like sprinkles tomorrow, so that might "put the cat amongst the pigeons" as David Hobbes would say.

Only been able to catch bits and pieces of Le Mans (Tivo is recording it all). The new Audi's are gorgeous. So Michele is backing Germany this year.

Spoiler:

I'm out aboard a boat with no SPEED channel so I'm getting all my news from crash.net & lemans.org this weekend.

Spoiler:

So with Le Mans just having finished, I'll leave two members of Q-branch to announce the results...

For the LMP1 class:

Spoiler:

For the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am classes:

Spoiler:

What a race at Le Mans...

Spoiler:

Stopped for torrential rain, the Canadian GP is back running.

Button is on full-attack chasing Vettel...Allison & Triela on the edge of their seats...€10 is riding on this!

---

EDIT:

Spoiler:

Allison and the other Top Gear Italy girls are watching the final laps of the Canadian Grand Prix. Button has overtaken Schumacher and Webber. the race goes into lap 70, focusing on the duel between Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button. As they scream into the final corners, Vettel goes wide! Button takes the lead and starts pulling away! Button runs away with the lead, coming up on the back of the pack, and takes the win for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes!

Allison: Yes! Yes! Finally, a win for Team McLaren!

Triela: Damn it. So close, Sebastian, but so far.

Allison: (extending her palm) Pay up, Princess.

Triela: How about you wait until the race stewards make the results official? You know Button's going to be investigated for his collision with Hamilton.

Allison: You can't seriously be trying to win on a technicality? It's just ten Euros; you'll probably get it back after the next GP; let me have my small victory!

Triela stares at Allison wordlessly

Allison: Fine. Rico, guard the money until the results are in. you'll hear from Claes what the results are. Don't let anyone else get the money before you hear from Claes as to the results.

Triela: (before handing the money to Rico) Why Rico?

Allison: Because she's impartial.

Triela: Fine, here.

Rico takes the €10 Euro note and runs off to secure it. Meanwhile, Kara watches the battle for 6th

Kara: C'mon, Massa... Yes! Well done!

Laine: You're rooting for him in a battle for sixth?

Kara: It's been a long day. I'll take what I can get at this point.

Well it was worth getting totally soaked at Montreal to see the race in person. Best one since Brazil 2008.

And yes, Kara's had a hard day. A double-bust at Le Mans and Montreal, though Michele's pleased to see Audi win.

MP5 wrote:Allison: Fine. Rico, guard the money until the results are in. you'll hear from Claes what the results are. Don't let anyone else get the money before you hear from Claes as to the results.

Triela: (before handing the money to Rico) Why Rico?

Allison: Because she's impartial.

Triela: Fine, here.

Rico takes the €10 Euro note and runs off to secure it.

It's official; Rico, you can can give Allison the €10.

Rico: Uh ho...

Allison: What?

Rico: I forgot where I hid it.

---

Meanwhile...

Kara: What are you so happy about Marisa? Your Toro Rosso boys only finished 8th & 10th.

Marisa: Both in the points, and since they outscored Elio's Williams team I get to chose where we have lunch on Monday. But what I'm really happy about is the MotoGP race. Colin Edwards broke his collarbone last week and came back to finish 3rd in the rain at Silverstone today! That's almost cyborg-tough!

It appears that Formula One have decided to delay the new engine formula from 2013 to 2014 and will now use a 1.6 liter turbocharged V6 as opposed to the original 1.6 liter turbocharged inline-4.

Also, effective with this weekend's Grand Prix of Europe, teams will not be allowed to use one engine mapping for qualifying and another for the race. Red Bull's awesome qualifying form, but more comparable race form, is thought to be thanks to using a high-fuel-flow mapping in qualifying, which is then changed for a more "normal" one for the race. So we may have seen the end of RBR's qualifying dominance.

Well the Lime Rock Grand Am race had a wild opening stint...

Spoiler:

And in Valencia this morning...

Spoiler:

The Valencia Grand Prix (which I assume Michele & Kara watched from his yacht) is complete;

Spoiler:

*snerk*

Also... Red Bull Racing as well as Toro Rosso? Same brand, different owner?

Officer_Charon wrote:Also... Red Bull Racing as well as Toro Rosso? Same brand, different owner?

Scuderia Tora Rosso was the former Minardi team. It was purchased by Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, and became the "junior team" to Red Bull Racing Renault and serves in some ways as a driver development team (Vettel started in TR and his pole and win at Italy 2008 resulted in him being promoted to RBR the following year). The TR chassis was developed by the RBR team through 2009, when the FIA disallowed "customer calls" and since 2010 TR has run their own chassis and is now considered an independent Constructor from RBR.

Spoiler:

At the compound...

Allison: (wearing her starting-to-fade Team Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes shirt) There goes more of my petrol money...

Triela: (wearing a brand-new Red Bull Racing shirt) I wonder if putting curly blonde hair on Sebastian would be overdoing it? I've already got Scott working on the R/C replica of the RB7...

Porsche has announced their intention to return to the top class at Le Mans in 2014.

It doesn't make much sense for closely linked Porsche & Audi to compete against each other...does this mean Audi is looking to draw a close to their ultra-successful diesel program? They have been sniffing around F1 lately.
If Audi does stick around it'll make for an interesting fight between Audi & Peugeot diesels vs. Porsche, who will likely showcase their hybrid gasoline/electric technology.

In Formula One news...

Williams Grand Prix Engineering has signed a deal to use the Renault V8 for 2012 and 2013, re-forming a partnership that dominated the mid-1990s Championships. This partnership will likely continue into the turbo V6 era starting in 2014.

Virgin Racing has bought out former technical advisors Wirth Racing Technologies and signed a technical partnership with McLaren Applied Technologies, which will give them ccess to McLaren facilities, staff and technologies.

And Spanish investment company Thesan Capital has taken a controlling stake in the Hispania Formula 1 team, hopefully giving them a nice influx of cash to help fund operations and development and build on the improvements Technical Director Geoff Willis has been able to implement this season so far.

Kiskaloo wrote:In Formula One news...

Williams Grand Prix Engineering has signed a deal to use the Renault V8 for 2012 and 2013, re-forming a partnership that dominated the mid-1990s Championships. This partnership will likely continue into the turbo V6 era starting in 2014.

Elio would have preferred to see his favorite team stick with Cosworth.

I was a huge Williams fan during their Honda and Renault years, so personally I'm looking forward to seeing them with a competitive engine again.

Now they just need to land Canon as the prime sponsor and I can break out my logowear from the bowels of the closet.

Williams move leaves Cosworth with only the two backmarker teams...they really need a more competitive squad in their line-up. Sauber maybe?

Kiskaloo wrote:Now they just need to land Canon as the prime sponsor and I can break out my logowear from the bowels of the closet.

Go ahead and break it out now...out of date sports kit is always cool. I have a New York Cosmos soccer jersey (not original, unfortunately) and they've been defunct since the days of Pelé.

Professor Voodoo wrote:Williams move leaves Cosworth with only the two backmarker teams...

That's kind of the problem, isn't it? Williams, Virgin and HRT is not a strong foundation to build on.

Professor Voodoo wrote:...they really need a more competitive squad in their line-up. Sauber maybe?

I would be very surprised if they traded down from Ferrari to Cosworth.

Kiskaloo wrote:I would be very surprised if (Sauber) traded down from Ferrari to Cosworth.

Cost has to be a factor...that customer Ferrari engine deal can't be cheap and after losing their top team Cosworth might be willing to cut them a deal. Still without a major sponsor, Sauber might bite on a deal like that.

Such a move would also make them Cosworth's top team, rather than a mere customer for Ferrari.

The only other options for Cosworth are Force India or Toro Rosso...both of whom seem amply funded to continue their customer deals.

While they're not running the logos very prominently, Sauber does have sponsorship from Carlos Slim's telecom companies and he is the richest man on the planet. So I think they're no longer hurting for cash.

There is no way Force India will give up Mercedes engines - those powerplants transformed the team and turned them into a contender.

Grand Prix of Britain Qualifying

Spoiler:

Also thought it hilarious that the Racing for Jesus car wrecked in the Nationwide race last night. So much for Divine Intervention.

Kiskaloo wrote:Grand Prix of Britain

Another one I'll have to watch via F1.com live timing & scoring. I think Webber (and by extension Alfisti?) will be looking to the sky for help today...rain could alleviate some of those Renault cooling problems and at least at this round he's been quicker than his team-mate whenever it gets wet.

Also thought it hilarious that the Racing for Jesus car wrecked in the Nationwide race last night. So much for Divine Intervention.

At least those clowns aren't sponsoring a car in any series I actually care about.

Professor Voodoo wrote: I think Webber (and by extension Alfisti?) will be looking to the sky for help today...rain could alleviate some of those Renault cooling problems and at least at this round he's been quicker than his team-mate whenever it gets wet.

Yeah... a little. Sadly it's on a little late to watch... and get up in time for work tomorrow.

GP of GB is finit;

Spoiler:

Kara: Ahem... My petrol money, please?

Triela: (handing over €10 Euro)rassumfrassumFerrarigoatcheese... frigging Alonso!

Allison: (also handing over €10 Euro) This time, I actually don't feel so bad about forking over the money. Ferrari was due for a win, anyway. Ol' Lewis gave it the beans, but I guess it wasn't enough.

Kara: I have to admit, that was impressive, how he stole 4th from Massa in the very last second, if a bit aggressively.

Allison: I'm just happy that Vettel isn't hogging first place like usual.

Vettel was the star in a reasonably priced car on Top Gear this evening

Awinnell wrote:Vettel was the star in a reasonably priced car on Top Gear this evening

Coolness. Folks are really good at getting the BBC HD rips out (usually within 60-90 minutes) so I'm keeping an eye on my usual download sites.

German Grand Prix results

Allison: These €10 Euro notes in my hand smell like... Victory.

Triela: What the hell, Vettel?! Seriously? fourth place?

Kara: At least Alonso finished on podium...

MP5 wrote:German Grand Prix results

Spoiler:

Marisa: (whacking her ear with an open palm) Damn...I think I need to go over to the hospital.

Allison: Why, what's wrong with you?

Marisa: I was sitting right next to Kara. She screamed at lap 33 when Hamilton passed Alonso...and again at 60 when Vettel got Massa in the pits. I didn't know artificial eardrums could get blown out.

Elio: Great...now she's got an excuse for her selective hearing.